


Love and Loss

by grandmelon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Animal Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ficlet, Implied Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Outliving Your Friends, Past Curtis/Shiro (Voltron), Pre-Relationship, not going to lie it mostly just hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:33:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29802981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grandmelon/pseuds/grandmelon
Summary: Keith's outlived almost all of his friends, and now his wolf is going to leave him too. Despite that, he's not alone. Not really.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Love and Loss

**Author's Note:**

> Another ficlet I wrote but never posted. 
> 
> TW: animal death, but Kosmo is like older than most humans at that point its very peaceful. Also implying that all of the other paladins are dead besides Shiro. Spoilers, after the fic they definitely get together and live out their extremely long galra lives together happy.

There was a time in his life where Keith would sit in a quiet graveyard and talk to a quiet headstone. He'd tell it his pains and his fears, his hopes and his dreams. There was a time in Keith's life when he thought his father's final resting place was six feet under.

Time continued to move forward, and it was relentless.

Sitting there, a hand full of fur as he stares out at a familiar sunset he hasn't seen in years, Keith realizes how silly he had been. Dark gray strands fall in his face as he turns to his wolf, yellow eyes watching the horizon. A quiver in the air, something like the flutter of a butterfly, touches his heart and colors him in sorrow. “I don't want you to leave me yet.”

His wolf turns to him, an amused huff from a long snout.

Another quiver, louder than before, shakes Keith and before he can say a thing his wolf disappears. Not a blink into another point in space, but a flutter of pale blue light, flying away with a gust of wind. Tears well up hot and heavy in his eyes, fat drops falling into his hands.

There's a shift in the atmosphere, the sound of crunching desert dirt under pristine boots. He doesn't stop the man from sitting next to him. Keith wasn't sure why or how he knew to show up for this, but he couldn't question it with tears clogging up his eyes and throat.

“I'm sorry, Keith.”

“Don't be,” he chokes out, trying to wipe away his tears. “He lived a long life. I didn't even know if I'd have him thirteen years, let alone eighty.”

“Still, it's hard losing someone you love,” Shiro sighs, his hand giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Keith wants to laugh, to make a snide remark, but all he can get out is a sob as he lets himself get pulled into a warm embrace.

“They’re all gone,” Keith whispers. The weight of his losses piling up. He thought at this point he'd be immune to death, but its clutches still wrap around his heart, threatening to pull him under. The realization that he outlived everyone he loved was all-consuming. He lost those he held close and was left with the one piece of his broken family he no longer knew how to talk to.

“How did you know?” Keith asks, calming his breathing as he curled around the other. “How did you know to come?”

“He told me,” Shiro says, a warm hand rubbing circles into Keith's back. “I can't explain it. He showed up the other day and I just knew. I think he wanted me to be here for you, when he left.”

Keith did laugh that time. That sly dog. “Well? What's your plan this time?”

Shiro pulls away and despite his youthful appearance Keith can see his age reflected in his eyes. A sorrow. A regret.

A love.

“To stay.”

**Author's Note:**

> [fandom twitter](https://twitter.com/melonmachinery)   
>  [writing twitter](https://twitter.com/grandmelon)   
> 


End file.
